Heather Harlen

Heather Harlen is a writer who knows words can change your life or at least brighten your day. Whether she's writing the third book in her thriller series, exploring big ideas around race and politics, or wrestling with commas, her goal is to spark connection and conversation. Heather is the author of Hope You Guess My Name and Shame, Shame I Know Your Name (Northampton House Press).

When she's not writing, she's diving into community justice work, practicing yoga, or watching horror movies. She lives with her husband in Eastern Pennsylvania and is working on the final book of the Marina Konyesha Thrillogy.  


Heather in the Media

WVIA Public Media •

Generations of memories shared after church destroyed in fire

Dr. Michael J. Lewis’ personal and professional lives collided when a fire destroyed a former Luzerne County church just over a week ago.“To me it was just absolutely heartbreaking,” he said.The former St. Hedwig’s Church in Edwardsville was demolished after it went up in flames on the morning of Feb. 19. The church closed in 2007 and Catholic Social Services of the Diocese of Scranton eventually sold the building in March 2020. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.WVIA News spoke...
Aurora Institute •

Pairing Competency-Based Education with Project-Based Learning Makes for a Powerful Learning Experience - Aurora Institute

High school student Breonna Allah says attending Building 21 Allentown in Pennsylvania, which uses a competency-based and project-based learning model, means being seen and heard and having a deeply personal learning experience.
“My experience at Building 21 has been a lot different from other schools. It focuses more on me versus grouping everyone together. I like that we’re all seen as individual people.” Breonna told an audience of 150 people attending a recent webinar hosted by the Aurora In...
Muhlenberg College •

Grant Builds Upon Muhlenberg’s Digital-Learning Partnership with an Allentown High School

By:



Meghan Kita



 Monday, November 6, 2017 03:03 PM

In the city of Allentown’s newest high school, Building 21, a 10th grade class listens to part of today’s lesson. Their teacher, Jamal Arnaout (below, in blue), stands off to the side, also listening. The two college students (one from Muhlenberg, one from Temple) who are helping lead today’s class are at the front of the room, but they, too, are silent. The lesson comes from speakers hooked up to a laptop. It’s a segmen...
WPSU •

BookMark: "Hope You Guess My Name" By Heather Harlen

Heather Harlen’s debut novel, Hope You Guess My Name, is a thriller that will make readers wonder what’s behind the veneers of their own communities. Marina Konyeshna, the book’s main character, is threatened after she discovers a human trafficking ring in her hometown in Eastern Pennsylvania.Harlen’s strength is her in-depth knowledge of the backwoods, abandoned coal mines and heart of rural eastern Pennsylvania. And her comprehensive character development is mesmerizing. Marina’s lack of focus...
The Morning Call •

Emmaus author Heather Harlen’s book mines thrills from coal region

When Heather Harlen’s plucky heroine, Marina Konyeshna, wants to introduce a handsome Turkish stranger to the anthracite coal region, she takes him to a parish bingo game and feeds him pierogies and halushki made by church ladies.Setting such scenes in her new paperback thriller “Hope You Guess My Name” was kind of a “Back-to-the-Future” experience for Harlen, who grew up in the small town of Edwardsville near Wilkes-Barre.Harlen’s ancestors emigrated from Czechoslovakia, Poland and Lithuania to...
Wilkes-Barre Citizens' Voice •

Heather Harlen is bringing mystery to Northeastern Pennsylvania

Public Square, bingo, Ricketts Glen – author Heather Harlen drew upon her Northeastern Pennsylvania upbringing to create a thriller novel unlike any other.Harlen’s thriller “Hope You Guess My Name” puts event planner Marina Konyeshna in the middle of a dangerous plot – set right in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The graduate of Wilkes University’s graduate creative writing program flavors the familiar setting and thriller plot with healthy doses of humor, which also makes it a good choice for a vaca...